Abuja, NIGERIA — The Office of the Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Bello Matawalle, has issued a strong denial regarding online reports alleging that he attempted to bribe a United States official.
In a press statement released on Wednesday, the Minister’s media team dismissed the claims as “baseless and misleading.”
The allegations, which reportedly surfaced from a member of the Florida House of Representatives, suggested that Matawalle sought to influence narratives related to a report by the United World Congress of Diplomats.
Okay News reports that the Minister’s personal assistant on media, Ahmad Dan-Wudil, characterized the publications as a coordinated “campaign of lies” designed to distract the Minister from his national service.
“The Honourable Minister has never engaged in, nor would he ever condone, any act of bribery or misconduct,” the statement read. Matawalle, the former Governor of Zamfara State, has recently been at the forefront of the Federal Government’s intensified military operations in the North-West, and his office maintains that these allegations are malicious propaganda intended to undermine those efforts.
The Ministry of Defence urged the public to disregard the reports, asserting that Matawalle remains “resolute and undeterred” in his commitment to national security.
This development comes as the Minister continues to oversee critical counter-banditry operations, which have seen several high-profile successes in Kaduna and Sokoto states over the last few months. The Minister’s team emphasized that his focus remains on “discharging his duties with diligence and integrity,” rather than engaging with unsubstantiated social media narratives.
